Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | Int'l Desk
Source/Credit: IBN Live | PTI
By PTI | May 6, 2011
Islamabad/Lahore, May 6 (PTI) Hundreds of workers of the hardline Jamaat-e-Islami party rallied in cities across Pakistan today to protest the killing of Osama bin Laden in a US commando raid as al-Qaeda called on the people of the country to rise up in revolt over his death. Four days after US special forces gunned down bin Laden in a pre-dawn operation in the garrison city of Abbottabad, Jamaat workers and leaders organised protests in several cities, including Lahore, Peshawar and Quetta, after the Friday prayers.
However, the protests were nowhere near the scale of demonstrations earlier this year to pressure the government not to change Pakistan's controversial blasphemy law. At most places, only a few hundred people joined rallies and shouted slogans against the US and the Pakistan government.
Authorities had beefed up security across the country in the wake of bin Laden's killing due to fears of terror attacks but there has not been any major backlash so far.
In a statement issued to jihadi websites, al-Qaeda confirmed the death of bin Laden and said: "We call upon our Muslim people in Pakistan, on whose land Sheikh Osama was killed, to rise up and revolt."
One of the largest gatherings was organised by the Jamaat-e-Islami in the southwestern city of Quetta, where about 1,500 people protested the killing of bin Laden and said more mujahideen would rise to a 'holy war' against the US.
Fazal Mohammad Baraich, a cleric who addressed the protestors, said the "jihad" against the US will not stop with bin Laden's death."Osama bin Laden is a shaheed (martyr). His blood will give birth to thousands of Osamas,"
Baraich said.Imams in most mosques referred directly or indirectly to the killing of bin Laden in their sermons and called on God to protect all mujahideen.
A cleric at the radical Lal Masjid in the capital Islamabad demanded that US troops should leave the region.
In the eastern city of Lahore, Jamaat-e-Islami workers joined a rally outside the party's headquarters in Mansoora and condemned what they described as increasing US interference in the affairs of Pakistan.
Jamaat chief Syed Munawar Hasan referred to bin Laden as a "martyr of Islam" and said: "If Osama is really dead, then thousands of Osamas will be born. Martyrdom is a wish of every Muslim."
Hasan criticised the Pakistan Army's response to the US raid that killed bin Laden."The army's response, that it will not allow a repeat of this type of action in future, is not sufficient," he said. He said India took a cue from the US operation and warned it could carry out similar surgical attacks.
The protestors carried placards and banners and shouted slogans against the US.
In Abbottabad, dozens of protestors marched through streets and demanded that the US should stay out of Pakistan and Afghanistan.
They blocked a road by burning tyres and shouted "Down, down US" and "Terrorist, terrorist, USA terrorist".
Small protests were also held in the cities of Multan, Peshawar and Hyderabad.
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